Turkish leader takes initiative on Cyprus

Turkey's Islamist prime minister, Recep Erdogan, said yesterday that his party's resounding victory in local elections in Turkey had strengthened his hand in the talks on Cyprus.

As discussions moved to the Swiss resort of Burgenstock, UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, unveiled a revised "win-win" peace plan.

With his AK movement winning 42% of the vote, Mr Erdogan said the landslide had made his government better able to strike a deal.

With Cyprus scheduled to join the EU on May 1, the quest for a deal assumed an urgency last night as leaders of Greece, Turkey, and either side of the island's ethnic divide, held intensive talks with Mr Annan. All have until tomorrow to back the accord which foresees a loose federation of two largely autonomous states. If that fails, the UN secretary general has a mandate to fill in any gaps before referendums are held on April 20.

Mr Annan said Greeks and Turks would have until today to study the accord which would give Greeks a larger percentage of the territory seized by Turkish troops in the 1974 invasion but allow fewer to reclaim their homes in the north.

Turkish Cypriots - 18% of the population but who control 37% of its land - would enjoy political equality alongside the Greeks while continuing to be protected by thousands of mainland Turkish troops.

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